The 10-Minute AdWords Management Workout

Image source.

As a busy marketer, you don’t have a ton of time to manage your AdWords account.

It’s not that you don’t care, you just have other things to work on. Like actually running a business.

Besides, why should you spend time in your dashboard when your efforts to date haven’t shown much success?

You’re doing work, but are you getting anywhere? GIF source.

Improving your AdWords account is much like building your muscles at the gym. It isn’t about working longer or harder. It’s about working smarter.

Just like your frequency of squats, there’s a point of diminishing returns where your muscles won’t continue to grow bigger or stronger.

But there are certain workouts that will bring you gains, you just have to know how to effectively use your time and how to make the biggest and most positive impacts on your AdWords performance.

Let me introduce you to the weekly 10-minute AdWords management workout.

(Psst. For an overview of the workout, check out the gifographics that KlientBoost has prepared for you over on their blog.)

1. Speed-add negative keywords (3 minutes)

Expected results? Your gluteus maximus of a click-through rate will increase and wasted ad dollars will be spared.

You already know that adding negative keywords on a regular basis helps you reduce wasteful spend (if not, read this super quick post by AdStage).

But did you know you can add negative keywords in just a snap?

You’ll want to look for search terms that don’t have your most common root keyword in them.

For example, let’s say you sell ice cream online and you want to quickly scan if some of your search terms don’t include the word “ice cream.”

To do so, go to your search term report inside your AdWords account, and quickly use the on-page search function of Command + F if you’re on a Mac, or Control + F if you’re on a PC. Then type in “ice cream” in the search bar.

You’ll want to sort your impressions column in descending order so you tackle the biggest performance killers first.

If something isn’t highlighted yellow, then take a closer look.

Then scan your entire search term report, while paying extra close attention to the non-highlighted search terms. These are usually the ones you will be adding as negative keywords since they fall outside of your root keywords.

As you’re scanning your search term report, add negative keywords to a spreadsheet and keep it on hand for our next workout.

Over time, you’ll start seeing fewer and fewer negative keywords that need to be added because you’re continually pruning and trimming.

Have multiple root keywords? Then use this approach on the different keywords you’re bidding on.

But be careful.

As you do this once a week, you may neglect what I call “search term creepers.”

These are search terms that get such few impressions and clicks week by week that they may go unnoticed as you scan through your search term report, but add up in the long run.

Search term creepers are usually pretty good at hiding. Image source.

To combat them, change your AdWords date range once in a while to the last 30 days instead of just the last seven days. See if they’re adding up impressions and clicks that you don’t want to pay for.

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Quickly add #AdWords negative keywords with this 3-minute campaign management workout.
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2. Negative keyword list adding (10 seconds)

Expected results? You’ll be saving time on the AdWords treadmill and saving money on clicks that are wasteful.

If you have multiple AdWords campaigns that share common negative keywords, then a negative keyword list will be your best friend.

Negative keyword lists help you save time by not having to copy and paste your new negative keywords across all your campaigns. Instead, you can keep them all in one hub and apply that negative keyword list to all or just a few of your campaigns.

If you followed my advice from the previous workout and have your spreadsheet filled with new negative keywords, you can now take that list and add it to your negative keyword list.

To find your negative keyword lists, simply go to the “Shared library” on the left hand side of your AdWords interface and then to “Campaign negative keywords.”

Your negative keyword lists are found through here. Specifically right here:

3. Bad ad pausing (1 minute)

Expected results? Better overall account well-being and improved average ad positions, average conversion rates and average cost per conversions. In short, you’ll sleep better at night.

Just like a horrible tasting protein shake, horrible ads have to be dealt with in order to make your workout more enjoyable and your AdWords performance stronger.

The idea here is to pause under-performing ads in the ad groups that have the most clicks and highest costs.

The reason why we want to make changes in the ad groups with the most clicks and highest costs is because it’ll have the biggest positive impact on your account, compared to just randomly making changes in different ad groups.

Think of it as doing bench presses (that can strengthen your entire upper body), compared to just regular dumbbell curls that just strengthen your biceps.

For this workout, you’ll want to go to “All online campaigns” and be on the “Ad groups” tab.

This is where you’ll find it.

Then, make sure you’ve clicked on the “Clicks” column for descending order (highest to lowest) and that your date range is around two to three months back.

Once you’re there, you’ll want to right-click on the top 10 ad groups with the most clicks and open each of them in new browser tabs.

This also prevents slow browser loading of going back and forth between ad groups.

Now to the fun part.

Go to each of the new browser tabs and pause the ads in each ad group that are performing worse when comparing cost per conversion, conversion rate, and click-through-rate (in that order) between the ads.

Here’s a look at two competing ads in which one got the axe. Can you guess which?

Make sure you have at least two ads running in each ad group for continuous A/B testing purposes. This will help take us to the next AdWords management workout.

4. New champion ad creations (1.5 minutes)

Expected results? You’re taking what’s already working and making it better. Building off your past success only makes you stronger.

Now that you’ve paused lower performing ads in the top 10 ad groups based on click volume and costs, it’s time to make new variations of the champion ads (the better performing ads you left running).

If you don’t, then you’re missing an opportunity to be constantly improving.

If your champion ads have similar ad copy in the top 10 ad groups (or even if they’re wildly different), then I’d recommend isolating one section of the ads (like description line 1) as the part that you’re testing.

Pick an ad section to isolate and test.

When you create multiple ads that share similar ad sections, then it’ll be easier and faster to see if ad performance has improved since you’re now gathering data faster than you would with just one ad test in one ad group.

Once you’ve decided which part of the ad you want to isolate and test, use AdWords labels so you can filter to see those ads later on after they’ve gotten enough data and clicks and compare them to the rest of your campaign or account.

You can highlight the new ads you’ve created and create a new AdWords label called “New Ad Test,” or whatever makes it easier for you to keep things organized.

Depending on your traffic volumes, you can quickly get an ad data snapshot like the one below (the yellow line is from your filtered ads from your AdWords label).

Those are some sweet, sweet numbers :)

To see if your ad testing has statistically significant results, you can jump over to KISSmetrics’ A/B calculator here and type in your clicks and conversions to see your confidence levels.

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Run similar #AdWords ad tests across multiple ad groups for faster results.
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5. Bad keyword bid lowering (1.5 Minutes)

Expected results? Just as there are 17 different ways you can perform a squat, all keywords perform differently when it comes to CTR, CPC and conversion rates. This’ll help you ditch expensive ones that increase costs and keep you out of shape.

If you have AdWords conversion tracking set up (I sincerely hope you do but if not, read this), then there’s a really good chance you know your average conversion rate and average cost per conversion across your entire AdWords account.

Think of these as your AdWords Body Mass Index (BMI) scores that you’re trying to improve so that you can finally get in that 80s aerobics video you always dreamed about.

Colors and fashion were so on point. Image source.

You have some keywords that are performing great, and then you have some that are, ehh, not so great (maybe the CTR is low, Quality Scores suck or the costs per conversion are higher than your account average).

One of the fastest levers you can pull on lowering your cost per conversion is by lowering your max CPC keyword bid amounts.

Let’s say your average cost per click is $5 and your conversion rate is 10%. This gives you a $50 cost per conversion.

If you lower your bids to be $4 and you’re able to maintain the same click-through and conversion rate, then technically your new cost per conversion should be $40.

But don’t do this on all your keywords. Identify which keywords are the most expensive by their cost per conversion metrics.

To do so, make sure you’re viewing “All online campaigns” and then go to the “Keywords” tab and sort your “Cost / converted click” in descending order.

Here’s a look at high-costing keyword conversions with at least 30 clicks.

This will show you the highest costing conversions and which keywords are responsible for them.

In the example above, you’ll notice that some keywords are much more expensive than your account average, and as long as you have enough clicks (at least 30), you can start slowly lowering their bids.

Quick workout note: If you lower bids too much, then you may also be lowering your average positions and damaging your CTR. You may find that lowering your bids puts them below “first page bid estimates” or doesn’t allow you to enter in the AdWords auction.

If that happens, then be quick to increase bids back to normal.

Make sure you have enough clicks (at least 30) for a keyword you’re about to lower the bid on. Anything less than that would be premature since the averages might not have had enough time to pan out yet.

With an understanding on how bid adjustments affect average ad positions and click-through-rates, you’ll want to slowly lower bids (5-10% of current bid amount) so that your average cost per conversions go down more smoothly.

6. High performing keyword bid increasing (1.5 minutes)

Expected results? Think of your keyword conversions as the number of leg extension reps you can do each set. Increasing bids is like eating more protein so you can start performing more reps.

Feeling a little winded? Good!

We’re eight minutes and 40 seconds into our 10-minute AdWords campaign management workout.

You’re making quick progress and your AdWords account is starting to look pretty dang sexy.

That’s a definitive yes Ryan. Thanks for noticing.

Just like we lowered bids on keywords that were too expensive, we’re going to do the exact opposite on keywords that are performing well, to get them to perform even better.

This time, you’ll want to reverse the “Cost / converted click” column in ascending order.

Now you’ll start to see which keywords are your best performers and their associated average ad positions.

Some sweet improvements are about to be made here.

If a good performing keyword has an ad position of 1.2 for example, then raising the bid won’t do much to improve CTR or give you more conversion volume.

But…

If it’s 1.7 or worse (your keywords are triggering ads that mostly show in spot #2, but sometimes in spot #1), then increasing bids will help you get more of those type of conversions since an increase in bid can improve the average ad position and therefore increase the click-through rate.

Here you can be a little more aggressive with keyword bids and increase them 10-20% at a time since there’s no fear of having them disappear in the ad auctions.

You may quickly notice that your lowest-conversion-costing keywords are keywords with zero clicks and therefore technically have the lowest cost per conversion of zero dollars.

To prevent this and to make sure you’re changing bids on keywords that actually have traffic, we’re going to save some time and create some custom filters you can use every week moving forward.

Which takes us to our next AdWords management workout…

7. Creating and saving custom filters (35 seconds)

Expected results? AdWords filters are like listening to your favorite songs while working out. They help you get in and out, and on with your life. Creating an AdWords filter will help you move through workouts 3, 4, 5 and 6 even quicker.

You’ll want to use filters to quickly showcase the worst or best performing keywords/ads based on the criteria you choose.

Think of filters as your personal spotters. Ready and excited to help out.

For the example above, let’s say you only want to decrease bids on keywords that have more than 20 clicks (because anything less than that would be premature) and a cost per conversion greater than $40 (this amount will obviously vary for your AdWords account).

The filter will then only show you those keywords that fit your criteria so you can make your bid adjustments on them.

You can then save the filter for next week’s workout with the goal of having the filtered “bad keywords” and “bad ads” become less and less frequent over time.

8. Checking for alerts (45 seconds)

Expected results? Sometimes it’s easy to forget the small things, like how certain workouts are actually supposed to be done. Think of the AdWords alerts as your own personal trainer that can prevent you from looking silly.

You’re going places. GIF source.

You’ve hustled through your workout so fast that you’re not even sweating – you’re raining like Shaquille O’Neal. Now it’s time to cool down from the intense AdWords management workout you just went through.

As you sit down to start stretching, thinking about that delicious post-workout chocolate milk, you remember there’s just one thing you forgot: checking for AdWords alerts.

Are there any conflicting negative keywords, disapproved ads or budgets that are hitting a ceiling?

If so, your little right-hand corner bell inside your AdWords interface will tell you.

No need to change everything it recommends though.

Click on any of the alerts to make the quick adjustment – if they make sense.

I say this because almost everything that Google recommends comes with the idea of having you spend more money, so take it all with a grain of salt.

If nothing strikes your eye, then it’s time to pat yourself on the back and drink that milk. You deserve it.

Good work!

Your workout is now over and you feel amazing. Instead of just running mindlessly on that elliptical, you actually came in and did what needed to be done to bring you closer to your AdWords goals: more conversions, lower costs per conversion and higher conversion rates.

All in record time.

Over to you. When it comes to effective AdWords management, what have you found to make the biggest impacts in the shortest time?

Climate Change – The Real Deal

It was in the spring of 2011 which was long remembered by the scale and horror of many violent tornadoes that tore through the Midwest and parts of the eastern United States. With the massive flooding of the Mississippi River in Illinois all the way to New Orleans created a catastrophic disaster. It seems like every spring has seen its share of storms where torrential rain causes immense suffering and loss of life. Once again we have drought conditions in many areas of our country and through out the world.

We realized that climate change increases the risk of hostility and conflict. The sea level rise today already cover the coastal landscapes around the world forcing people to leave their homes. In general, we are seeing migration, while due to the rising waters forced. This migration of refugees of climate change continues to grow each year. With drought conditions worsen shortages have become the strongest fresh water and food. Consequently, there has been and still is an increased competition for remaining resources never there. And this increased competition continues to exacerbate tensions, not only in all the countries concerned but throughout the world.

To understand the impact of climate change today is that one of its consequences has led to instability in Nigeria. This instability, now operated by the terrorist group Boko Haram continues to exasperate economic conditions worsen and throughout Africa. The drought and subsequent food shortages not only rising food prices intensified, has helped fuel the riots in early Syria. Today, with the country torn by civil war and the rise of ISIS caused serious risks, not only for the global economy, but has also had disastrous effects on humanity as well.

In the US, it has not been since 1920 in this country has experienced such devastation of nature in many places in a short period of time. Following all this devastation left much of the United States almost helpless. Too many lives lost, so much destruction, and many livelihoods in ruins was the result. Today, nature in all its fury unleashed chaos and destruction that continues to shake that nation. Man-induced climate change is attributed to a global quagmire of misery and death?

Throughout the centuries mankind has continued to upset the balance of nature. Man laid the foundation for the natural disasters that have transformed our world. Each nation is guilty of some environmental atrocity of one kind or another. Voluntarily or not the man continues to pollute, destroy, steal and our environment without worrying about the consequences of our actions, inactions and now to facilitate the devastation. To speculate that the Earth goes through its normal cycle of climate change as the reason why there are so many homes storms, longer droughts, earthquakes or massive flooding is too casual.

Monetary restrictions imposed by the reactions always change in the environment caused by human interference. The tragedies of humanity are imbued with blatant disregard for the environment, nature and all the inhabitants of the earth. Even with all the currently available more pollution than any other period of history is continuously discharged into our rivers, streams, lakes and oceans causing catastrophic damage to marine life technology, people from coast, all economies around the world . The need is very obvious, the technology is available, and resources can be provided to eliminate global pollution that threatens our very existence.

What it has happened since the arrival of the first industrial revolution in which man continues to drain the oil fields, groundwater deposits of coal and other minerals, which is a parody of our planet. Our continued reliability of fossil fuels on earth creates large gaps that contribute to the movement of earth plates along the lithosphere resulting from earthquakes, tsunamis, and even sink holes that cause terrible damage man and the nature. We also have to realize what humanity has done to the tropical forests of the Amazon. Destruction and almost total annihilation of the greatest resources of the stability of Earth’s climate, now it has become the greatest threat of the planets climate instability.

To not capitalizing the already abundant, automatic replenishment, and environmental sources of renewable energy humanity has made the land can not remain stable. Of course, the planet has experienced throughout the history of climate change, but mans continued escalation of fossil fuel consumption only increases and accelerates a change in the climate of the earth. When the weather changes drastically in a relatively short time period of great upheavals they have always happened. Worldwide, more frequently and with greater intensity have become. Always in the most horrible human suffering, nature and the environment and it is almost powerless to restore stability. All this while the costs to restore balance and stability today far exceeds the cost that would have been spent to prevent such disasters from happening in the first place.

All that is needed is the will of nations once and for all band together to solve the climate of the earth is directly related and influenced by human interference. To curb the acceleration of global warming, end the catastrophic pollution, and restore our depleted forests every nation must help restore the delicate balance of the earth. This, for humanity now be able to end the massive human suffering that causes more aggression and destabilization of nations worldwide-out. All this can be done using the technology available today. By making the sources of the first and second electrical obsolete industrialization is the fastest way to restore stability worldwide. The availability of solar, wind, hydro electric, magnetic energy and other green energy sources are easily available now. All that is needed is the political will to make them more accessible and affordable. The ability to restore the balance of nature on earth is at hand. And doing so could only alleviate many human tragedies that have placed man about to fall back into the caves of the Neanderthals.

How to Pitch Marketing Analytics Software to Your Company

The wonderful thing about the state of marketing in 2015 is that technology makes it possible to measure, test, and improve everything from your ad campaigns to your content to your product itself. Sophisticated analytics software can help you track reams of crucial data and respond in real-time.

It’s an exciting time to work in this field because marketers have never had so much tangible ability to affect their business’s bottom line.

But what if you don’t have the tools to collect all the information you want? What if you see the incredible power sophisticated data reporting can grant you, but your supervisors haven’t yet considered using sophisticated marketing software? How do you build a business case for a SaaS analytics tool like KISSmetrics?

If you’re responsible for tracking ROI and making sure your marketing has the right impact, it’s very likely you can benefit immensely from the ability to pull complex reports and react in real-time. However, since these superpowers are relatively new, you may have to do a lot of work in order to choose the solution that’s right for your company and then build a clear, easy-to-understand business case for it.

Even if it’s easy to get the cost approved, it’s still worth your time to do the legwork beforehand so that you choose the right software and know how to make the most of it. Here are some steps you can take to ensure you’ve got your bases covered and you’re able to succinctly, effectively choose and pitch an analytics solution:

1. Identify your business’s biggest challenge.

Before you begin, take the time to clearly define the primary challenge your business is facing. Do you need to acquire new users? Reduce churn? Figure out which segment of customers have the greatest lifetime value (LTV)? Increase the percentage of users who are paying?

It’s normal to have several problems you’d like to solve at any given moment, but chances are there’s a big one that — if effectively solved — could go a long way toward solving the others, too. This is a great time to ask questions of your colleagues. What do they see as the biggest challenge?

To get a clear picture of your funnel and to see some helpful benchmarks, check out Chapter Four of QuickSprout’s Definitive Guide to Growth Hacking.

2. Look at the existing data you’re collecting, and identify critical gaps.

You can have all the data in the world, but without taking a strategic approach to figure out what you hope to learn from it, you’ll never be able to use it to achieve anything great. Don’t fall into the trap of getting caught up producing endless reports for no good reason. Contextualize your business’s primary challenge, and think about how data can help you solve it.

What do you want to know right now that you can’t figure out with the information currently available to you? What decisions are being made based on hunches and assumptions (where software could help you measure and test different approaches)?

Do you know who your most valuable customers are? Where do they come from? What marketing efforts are being aimed at retaining them, and which of those efforts are the most effective?

Make a wish list of all the things you’d like to have hard data on, but don’ This point will be critical in helping you build a strong business case.

3. Do your research.

Once you have a clear handle on what it is you’re attempting to solve and what information you need to obtain in order to do so, it’s time to educate yourself on the capabilities and limitations of the analytics tools available to you. Even if you’ve worked with them before, it’s worth refreshing your memory on their various features and reports.

It’ll be especially valuable at this point to dig around for case studies and articles about other companies that have conquered problems similar to the ones you’re facing. If you’re a SaaS company interested in reducing churn, for example, a quick Google search produces a number of incredibly helpful case studies:

• How One SaaS Startup Reduced Churn 71% Using “Red Flag” Metrics (KISSmetrics)
• 9 Case Studies That’ll Help You Reduce SaaS Churn (ConversionXL)
• 3 Things We Did to Reduce Churn by 68% (Baremetrics)

This kind of reading is well worth your time. You’ll find it a lot easier to put together a plan that will help you identify the reports you’re hoping to produce once you have access to more data. And this level of strategic forethought is essential to the success of your pitch.

4. Anticipate constraints and objections.

Even if you think you have a rock-solid pitch put together, prepare to address concerns and objections. Ask yourself the following questions:

If the responsibility for the final decision were in your hands, what would you have to consider?

• Are there unique privacy concerns around your company’s data?
• Are there legal requirements in your industry or region that impact the type of information you can collect, and how you go about doing so?
• What budget are you realistically working with?
• What roadblocks might you face in implementing a new analytics tool?
• How will the cost of this software be affected by potential changes in your product or your user base?
• If you double your users, what will the cost be then?
• When you add a new set of features to your product, how easy will it be to integrate this tool?
• What ongoing development resources will you need to draw on, if any?

Consider each of these points, and gather as much information as possible so that you’re able to address them quickly and accurately during your pitch. Don’t waste time having to go out and do more research after you’ve put your business case together. It’s much better to be prepared in advance.

5. Speak with a sales associate.

Now is a great time to get in touch with someone in sales and discuss your needs. Explain the primary challenge your business is facing. Let them know what data you’d like to be able to collect. Ask how they would suggest you address the roadblocks you’ve identified.

Sales professionals are usually intimately familiar with the product they’re responsible for and are used to addressing these objections, so they’ll likely have great data and case studies they can share with you. They can also help you build a thorough, realistic implementation plan.

Set up an appointment or call. Have a list of questions ready. Be prepared to give them extensive context on how your business operates and what you hope to achieve by launching a new analytics tool. Take advantage of their significant product knowledge, and work with them to put your pitch together.

If you’re comparing multiple tools, this is also a good way to get an idea of what kind of support and guidance you can expect from each company you’re considering working with. The more helpful and knowledgeable their sales staff, the more likely they are to be supportive and available once you’re a paying customer.

6. Build your presentation.

Bring it all together now! You’ve done your research. You’ve identified the business challenges you want to address with a sophisticated analytics tool. You’ve educated yourself on your options. You’ve prepared information to help address objections and concerns. It’s time to put your pitch together.

Use real numbers where possible, and construct a clear picture of your current system’s shortcomings. Then point out the opportunities a new analytics tool can provide.

Try putting together what-if scenarios, such as these:

What if we found that Feature A was confusing our users and causing them to lose interest?

• What if we discovered that our users liked our old website layout better?
• What if we realized that one of our digital ad campaigns targeting a specific segment was producing far-and-away the most profitable customers in the long run?

Play these out, and use extrapolated data to illustrate your point. You’re trying to demonstrate the connection between valuable, hard-to-acquire data and the real business decisions that can result from this information. Your goal is to show that having access to improved reporting and more comprehensive information can help you and your leadership team make better decisions about your marketing activities and your product.

7. Make your pitch.

Set up a meeting and allow for as much time as possible. Keep the focus on the potential business impact of the software you’re pitching. After all of the research you’ve done, you should feel prepared for questions about budget, implementation, data security, development hours needed, and so on.

Be clear about the commitment required, and offer to do additional research if objections or questions you hadn’t prepared for come up.

If you get a “no,” suggest a three- or six-month trial period as a compromise. While you want to leave sufficient time to implement and properly test the impact of a new analytics tool, a smaller commitment may be more palatable if your leadership team is concerned about the investment or skeptical about how much tangible impact better data reporting can have.

8. If your pitch is successful, get really good at using the software.

Great, your pitch was approved! But the work doesn’t stop there. Get your hands on as much training as you possibly can, and be sure you’re really well-versed in the capabilities of your new analytics tool. Ask for the opportunity to lead the implementation, if possible, and consider who else in your organization may benefit from receiving training on the new software.

You’ll probably receive a lot of guidance from the software company you’ve elected to go with, but also check out other resources to hone your skill set. Here are a few you can start with:

• The GrowthHackers community
• The inbound.org community
• Lynda.com training videos
• This list of growth hacking resources

The sharper your data analysis and strategic marketing skills get, the more you’ll be able to benefit from working with an advanced analytics tool.

Conclusion: It’s worth putting in the time and effort.

Sometimes it’s difficult to convey the value of software tools, especially highly customizable analytics platforms that can be used any one of a thousand ways. However, by clearly defining your goals, building a wish list of data points you’d like to get your hands on, anticipating objections, and putting together a smart, data-supported presentation, you stand a good chance of getting the green light.

If your pitch is successful, you’ll open up a great opportunity to make huge, measurable gains in the effectiveness of your marketing activities and the success of your business.

About the Author: Kristin Eberth is a marketing pro based in Vancouver, BC, where she leads B2B marketing at PressReader. She writes about marketing strategy on her blog at kristineberth.com. Subscribe to her newsletter, or follow her on Twitter @kristineberth.

5 Real Estate Landing Page Templates for Your Appraisal

If showing houses were this easy, no one in real estate would need a landing page. But it ain’t. Image source.

Do a Google search for the name of your city + “real estate.” Click on a few of the sponsored ads. Did you find a landing page?

Chances are you didn’t, because most real estate agents have not yet caught on to the fact that they need to be sending their paid traffic to dedicated landing pages.

If you’re a real estate agent, a broker, realtor or even an agency working on behalf of any of these people, this represents an awesome opportunity for you to stand out from your competition, establish trust and collect a lot more leads.

A few weeks back we held a landing page design competition with our friends over at ThemeForest and got more than 100 submissions in 18 categories. Here are five outstanding real estate landing page templates that anyone can use to give their business that extra edge over the competition.

We’ll break down what’s great about them, and how you can use them to make your marketing more successful.

1. WorkMan

This real estate template comes in two styles: click-through and lead generation.

You can use the click-through template (pictured) for showing off specific properties. Give readers a taste of the houses you’re selling along with a description.

The lead generation template has a form for potential buyers to fill in their information right at the top of the page. This one would be most useful for real estate agents who want to offer prospects a quote or give their visitors information about the service they offer. This information could come in the form of an ebook about how to purchase real estate, a guide to city neighborhoods, or any other content that might be of value to potential homeowners.

Each version of the template has a nice, big space for your hero shot at the top of the page. This is perfect for real estate agents, as it gives you the opportunity to show your prospects some aspirational image that can help them get a better idea of what you’re offering them. As Unbounce’s co-founder Oli Gardner says in his 5 Essential Elements of a Winning Landing Page post:

The idea here is to get your customers to empathize and place themselves in a scenario where they are using it.

In this case, “it” refers to the house you’re selling. On a real estate landing page, that image might be a happy couple in front of a house, a family playing in the backyard, or some folks relaxing on a porch. Whatever you choose, it should help people imagine themselves living in that house.

2. Luxra

This page uses conversion centered design, and includes a feature that will be of particular interest to real estate agents — the video section.

Videos increase the length of time people stay on your page, giving your message more time to sink in. And if you feature yourself or company employees in the video, it gives prospects the opportunity to get to know you better. There’s a reason real estate agents put their face on “for sale” signs; people are more likely to buy from people that they know and trust.

Video can be used to address buyer modalities. These are profiles that describe different buyer behaviors.

As CRO extraordinaire (and friend of Unbounce) Angie Schottmuller explains, different buyers require different amounts of information. Video appeals to buyers who need more information and visuals.

If you’re using multiple advertising channels (AdWords, Facebook, Bing, etc), be sure to A/B test a page with video versus one without. This will help you to establish which of those channels is most receptive to video.

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Use video to appeal to landing page visitors who want more information!
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3. Agents

I love this lead generation page. It reminds me a bit of the benches or billboards that you see with pictures of real estate agents’ bright, smiling faces. Except that this page has a form where folks can immediately send you their information so that you can get in touch with them.

A real estate agent could, for example, offer a free consultation to potential customers on this page.

As a real estate agent, you know the importance of selling yourself to potential clients before you sell a house, and this landing page template offers the opportunity for you to really let your personality shine through.

4. Avira

This is a landing page that would work well for someone selling multiple properties in a new suburban development, for example. From top to bottom, each section gives you the opportunity to show off features of the community that set it apart from others, and the different types of dwellings one might find there.

The map next to the icons that display the amenities in the immediate area is a great touch, as well. It gives your readers a sense of the neighborhood, and may very well generate further interest in the property.  

The other thing this page has going for it is contrast. Notice the use of whitespace, which gives the page plenty of room to breathe. This breaks up the page and draws the eye from one section to the next, allowing you to present your message in nice, bite-sized pieces.

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Whitespace on a landing page gives content *and* visitors room to breathe.
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5. Homes

Now that literally* everyone has a smartphone, landing pages that are mobile responsive are not just a nice thing to have – they’re a necessary part of any marketing campaign. In June of 2014, Google searches from a mobile device totaled 27% of all real estate-related searches. A Google Consumer Study from April 2014 states:

Most people would use their mobile device to do at least one of the following: search for listings, find directions to a house, look for more information on a listing, call or e-mail an agent directly, or watch a video while out looking for a home.

Like the others in this category, this page is mobile responsive. But this page has something that might help readers keep scrolling when they first arrive on their mobile device.

The arrow that points towards the form at the right of the page is a great directional cue that helps draw attention to your form. When designing for mobile, you could take that arrow and point it downward instead. This would give your readers the impetus to keep on scrolling down the page to get all the information they need to convert.

Little touches like this can go a long way towards capturing leads on mobile, so make sure to make the most of them (and test them too)!

*Not literally.

Get what you need to convert

There are more than 170 Unbounce landing page templates on ThemeForest, so if you can’t find what you’re looking for here, make sure to get over there and take a look.

And don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty with some A/B testing. The most important thing you can do when using landing pages for real estate marketing campaigns is to test variations to make sure that you’re reaching your audience in the right way.

You never know what might make the difference between a page that sends you qualified leads, and one that gets ignored.

Be sure to test, test, and then test again!

An Island made from plastic bottles by Richart Sowa

Where some see a simple garbage Richard Sowa saw a way to make his dream. More than 150,000 plastic bottles used to create this magical floating island, talk about creative recycling! Watch this video to learn more about your almost completely sustainable development now calls home. This will make you think twice before just throwing a lot of things we consider trash.

Hashtags Aren’t Gimmicks: How Buffer’s Twitter Chat Reached 49,993,695 People in One Year

Normally, when we think about how we can use hashtags effectively, we think of creating viral hashtag campaigns for our business or website.

The problem with the way most people think about hashtags is that it is limiting. When you use hashtags in the normal way, you look for ways your audience can interact with you. Maybe you encourage them to use your hashtag for the chance to win prizes. Maybe you start a hashtag campaign in the hope it goes viral and attracts new customers.

If you are only looking for ways your audience can interact with you, you are missing out on crucial opportunities. You can interact with them. Hashtags are not a one-way street.

Today, you’re going to learn how Buffer used a hashtag to reach over 49,993,695 people in one year, as well as what other small businesses are doing to harness the power of the hashtag.

Buffer uses their hashtag #bufferchat each Wednesday to give back and engage with their audience. Each week people follow the hashtag and answer questions on a chosen topic set by Buffer themselves, or an invited host.

Twitter chats are a perfect way to show your audience you are listening. It’s a way to understand your audience and find out what it is they want to know. It’s a way for your audience to ask you questions and get answers.

When people engage in a Twitter chat, their followers can see the tweets. This results in a much wider reach. Below, you will be able to see the reach Buffer has achieved in the past year to date.

• 113,658 Tweets
• 8,170 Contributors
• Total Reach: 49,993,695

In terms of their influencers, Bufferchat paves the way. They have all sorts of people interacting with their chat. Just look at the number of followers of their influencers:

What more could a brand want than people talking about it regularly? Here are collated statistics from Bufferchat mentions over the past year:

Use your hashtag to give back. If you’re going to create a Twitter chat, don’t make it about you. Make it something people can learn from.

If people feel they have learned from your Twitter chat, they’re going to come back. You’ll even have people excited about the chat days before it happens. You’ll see something like this:

When you give back to your audience using a hashtag, you can expect unprecedented responses. This isn’t just something only Buffer does. Lots of other companies do it, too. In fact, you are missing out if you don’t.

Use Hashtags to Create Connections

If you’re looking to find people to connect with, use hashtags. Bluenose.com, a customer success platform, does this well. They use Twitter as a way to source guest bloggers. For example, they monitored hashtags like “#customersuccess” and found Derek Skaletsky, the CEO of a new SaaS company called Knowtify.

The Twitter conversation led to an excellent blog post that was great for both parties, but it didn’t end there. That blog was utilized in multiple email drip campaigns, and they also had Skaletsky as a guest speaker during one of their Customer Success Supper Club Meetups.

Use Hashtags to Find Content Ideas Your Audience Is Looking For

People often complain they don’t know what content to write, or they are not sure people will want to read their content.

As with any idea, you need to validate it. You need to validate that your business idea will work before you start it. You need to validate the need for your content before you create it.

Twitter is a great way to validate blog ideas, and you can use hashtags to do so.

Suppose you are on a beach and it’s a really hot day. Would you want to walk around for an hour looking for water, or would you rather someone bring water to you the moment you are thirsty? My guess is the second option. If someone gave you exactly what you wanted when you wanted it, you’d be pretty grateful.

So, use hashtags as a search feature. Find content that people are looking for and create it. When you create the solution to someone’s problem, they’re going to be grateful.

A key point here is that people are lazy. Instead of doing a Google search to look for information, people will take to Twitter and ask their followers to do the work for them. If you don’t believe me, let’s see for ourselves.

Pick a topic in your niche you think people will talk about and search for it using a hashtag. In the examples below, I am looking for people who are talking about marketing. I have used #marketing.

Key tip: If you want to narrow your search, try adding words like “opinion” or “?”. This narrows the search to people who have used these words and the hashtag.

Normally, people might tweet about marketing and add #marketing at the end of their tweet in the hope someone will reply. This usually only works if you have a big following or are an industry leader.

Now, instead of including #marketing on one of your tweets, use the hashtag to search for other people using #marketing, and then create content in response to that.

Twitter users, like the ones above, are already engaging in the hashtag, so really, you don’t have to. If marketing is what you are targeting, you have to find these people and interact with them. The tweets above present opportunity to create content. People are looking for answers and you are there to provide them.

Give them what they want. If you reply to the Twitter user above with a blog post called “Quality content: The most vital part of marketing,” they’re likely to read it, right?

It’s exactly what they’re looking for. They will probably follow you, and perhaps if your content is good enough, they may share it, too.

Here you have used hashtags not for your own benefit, but for the benefit of other people. You have helped someone out, and they will reward you by reading your content. This in turn helps you position yourself as an authority. The next time this particular person has a question, they may come directly to you.

Use Hashtags to Interact with People Interested in Your Product/Service

Outreach is a key part of many marketing plans. Ideally, you want as many people as possible to know about your offering. Reaching out via Twitter is a key way to approach it.

Suppose you created a piece of software similar to Google Analytics. You could, as some people suggest, search for your product name to see if people are talking about you. This is a good way to interact with people, definitely. But what if they’re not talking about you? What if you search for your company name and the only tweets talking about you are the ones you’ve sent?

With this method, again, the purpose is to bring value to your audience rather than seek value for you.

Take your software, product, or service and write a list of all the keywords associated with it.

For our software example, we might search for #analytics.

Key tip: Do not use this method as a tool to plug your product/service to everyone you can. Try to add value.

Remember, it’s all about being useful to people. If someone asks a question about analytics, answer it.

This user wants an e-course for Twitter analytics. If you make one, she’s very likely to use it and then potentially check out your product, too.

One company that does this well is Senior Carebox, a subscription care box service for senior loved ones.

I spoke to Kyle Ems, the founder, to find out how he uses hashtags to help his business.

“I search for hashtags that identify potential customers. For example, our care boxes are sent to senior loved ones, but are usually purchased by their daughter, son, friend, or primary care provider.

“If I search for hashtags such as #grandma, #grandparents, #grandpa, or #family, I can easily identify potential buyers. As I retweet or favorite more tweets that include these hashtags, I see more traffic. Also, I include these hashtags in our tweets so potential customers can find us.”

I asked him about the results of his method. Please see response below:

Don’t Try to Get Your Hashtag Trending

Whenever I go through a client’s social media plans, specifically their approach to Twitter, one of their goals is usually to create a trending hashtag in order to bring in new customers. While this is an okay goal, and I understand why you might want to do it, the problem is that creating a trending hashtag is hard work and quite unrealistic. There is a much easier method.

With this method, you engage with hashtags that are already trending. Provided they are relevant to your industry, there is potential for you to do very well through this method.

The idea is to interact with a hashtag that’s already gaining traffic and use it to your advantage. If the hashtag is relevant to you, your content might be relevant to those using it.

LEGO Batman is a great example of this. They wanted to promote their new brand. When they saw the San Diego Comic-Con was trending, they used this to their advantage. They knew this was relevant to them, so they interacted, using the #SDCC hashtag. They didn’t need to create their own hashtag; they didn’t need that much preparation; and they were clever and made sure they were in the right place at the right time.

Another company that did this well was small business Everlaw, which utilized a trending hashtag in order to promote their new product.

Hashtags are important, and they are here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. Don’t limit yourself by using hashtags and waiting for people to come to you. Go to them. Instead of using hashtags as a self-promotion tool, use them to engage with your audience and listen to them. Sooner rather than later, you will have people promoting for you.

About the Author: Jordie Black is a Copywriter and Web-Copy Consultant specializing in Conversion Rate Optimization. Her mission is to help people like you produce better, believable copy that converts. Get her free 4-part blogging course and learn how to use Twitter to write better blogs.